Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-01-21
BILL ME.
ae Relate. an 1apcne"ce In a soathe,'

| He Relates az Experience IN q Southern
IrotcE
When asked the landlord what my
| 5ill was he said it was s.. Gut" said
| I. with great difficulty restraining myself
rom smearing his brains all over the
f,otel register. "you have charged ME
Il for extras. Ihave had no extras"
"By the beard of the prophet!" said
ne. crossing himself and reaching I'M
Ter counter for u thicl1-set carbine,
with which it had been his wont to
shoot large apertures into the vitals OF
people who disagreed with him. "By
She beard of the prcphet!' said he,
cooking the piece after putting in a
new half-pound cartridge with tallow
On it, "you forget that you have had a
lire in your room"
As I looked along down the cold and
rcpulsive length OF the carbine ]
thought to myself how many valued
friendships we throw away along life's
pathway by reason of our hate and our
rash, impetuous telnpers. Here was a
man, striving in his poor, weak way to
keep llostelry, such as it was. He
desired to be the friend of one and all,
but on every hand he was repulsed,
rebuffed, and walked upon of men.
I resolved to make him my friend.
Catching him i'll my great, strong arms
and straining him to my atrophied
breast in such a manner as to throw
the muzzle of the gun over my
shoulder, fell on his neck and wept
while he made his own change out OF
what funds he found in my clothing.
l would give the name of this hotel
were it not for two reasons-viz. First,
because j do not wish to advertise q
house that does not deserve it, and
second, because there is nothing to pre-
vent the landlords coming down here
to see about it. There is really moth
ing about operating hotel like his
which would in any way interfere with
his going away for q year or two and
leaving it in the hands of the same
cockroaches who are running it now.
I paid the bill and so added another
to the long list of bills which / have
paid.
This hotel has the old style Of an
nunciator, consisting OF large, drop
steal green card with fat and faded
tassel hanging to it, while the other
end passes through the ceiling and is
attached to one of tile rafters of the
building.
You pull this annunciator three
times for drinking water, and then you
go down to the well and get all the
water you want. 1t made me feel per-
fectly at home, for that is the way !
do when am at home
The chambermaid at this hotel was a
tall colored man named Isaac, who had
formerly been the concierge of livery
stable on the Rue dc Butternut at
Nashville.
He was emancipated during the war,
and received the freedom which
properly belonged to Il whole planta-
ton. Instead of dividing it up and
giving the other slaves their proper
ton, he had retained, and, as it were,
embezzled, the freedom of twenty
seven other people.
AS a result of this, he had more
freedom than | had He came into my
room frequently while [ was changing
my linen, but lid not come in when |
needed assistance
Shirts are so made that the gentle
man who adopts them must do so by
himself through the base of the
garment gradually, emerging at last
through the apex thereof. Isaac never
raped on the door before entering, for
his whole system was so saturated with
the blessed boon of freedom that he
roamed around through the hotel, en-
tering any room where he thought
there would be nothing for him to do
but to get right out again.
So, while I was working my way up
through heavilystarched shirt one
lay and could not see anything, while
was wildly clutching at the empty
air, there was soft football on the
and the door opened.
knew instinctively that it was the
though 1 could not see
ler.
I sfrieked two times and tried to
conceal myself in a counterpane, but
NY arms were pinioned by the shirt
md the counterpart was good deal
smaciated. It was not the counter
Dane that it had been before the war.
I told the chambermaid that if she
lad father, if she had brother,
either Of whom might be tempted to
'hange his shirt, I hoped that she
would avaunt just as she would hope
or mer cy in the case of a father or
brother who might be placed in like
position.
But the reader has already discovered
hat it was only Isaac who had strolled